SIR - Regarding the letter from Eric Firth (T&A, January 19), I am sure G Tasker, whom I do not usually support and whom Eric Firth criticises, did not mean the British had never lost any battles but that the British Tommy never shirks on the battlefield.

Mr Firth mentions our walking away from Dunkirk. One of my brothers was a victim of Dunkirk. He didn't walk away but was magnificently and miraculously rescued by the British Armada of small ships.

If my brother had been fit enough he would have been back on duty again but he was never fit enough. I remember his collapsing at the door on his return.

I wonder how Eric Firth would have coped?

Philip Bird, Nab Wood Terrace, Shipley